Salary Cap

Salary-cap economics got the best of forward Mark Strickland on Tuesday much the same way they had with guard James Scott on Monday. Strickland was released little more than 24 hours before his $247,500 contract would have been guaranteed for the season. He received a $30,000 guarantee to join the Heat in training camp. With Scott released a day earlier, the Heat left itself with about $800,000 to spend on signing players or for use in balancing trades under the salary cap. Coach Pat Riley said the salary-cap consolidation was significant for a team with so many ailing players.

July 28, 2014 Q: Hey Ira, do you think Pat Riley has another trick under his sleeve? I know Chris Bosh hasn't officially signed his contract yet and he was willing to take a pay cut before. Do you think he can still take a little less pay before he signs and Miami can land another key name? -- Vince, North Carolina. A: Chris hasn't signed because he hasn't been around, spending much of July traveling overseas. But his deal is done, and done at a figure high enough that he bypassed the temptation of playing alongside Dwight Howard and James Harden in his native Texas.

At times such as these, when there have been seven losses in the past eight games, at least there is the solace of the salary-cap space the Heat will have to rectify the situation. After all, coach Pat Riley noted on the eve of the season, "The market is going to know we're going to be back in the game again." Yet, as it stands now, the Heat may not be much more of a player in free agency than it is in the playoff race at 13-26. The Heat is in position to go into the offseason with only four players under contract, but visions of salary freedom have been detoured by the bitter realities of the salary cap. In short, with free agents such as Michael Olowokandi, Jermaine O'Neal, Lamar Odom, Andre Miller and Elton Brand allowed to demand upwards of $10 million as a starting point guard, and with top-shelf free agents such as Jason Kidd and Tim Duncan allowed to ask for as much at $12.5 million for next season, the Heat is projected to have about $7 million in cap space.

Q: Ira, you are LeBron James sitting back and see Pat Riley sign Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger and then say he's out of cap space. What would you think? -- Dan. A: First, it doesn't matter what I think. Second, LeBron is as smart as anyone when it comes to judging NBA landscapes. He knew what his desire for as maximum salary would do to the Heat's salary-cap position, and he knew which players likely weren't going to for below-market offers. So he had to sense that the upside could be McRoberts- and Granger-type players.

- Any lingering doubts certainly have been erased the past two games. First there was the winning basket with 16 seconds to play Wednesday in Orlando. Then there was the first career 3-pointer with 56 seconds to play in regulation of Sunday's debut victory at AmericanAirlines Arena. Anthony Carter has proven he is an NBA-quality point guard. The problem for the Heat is that Carter well could wind up as the next in a long line of Heat point guards to prove if they can make it here, they could make even more elsewhere.

Despite concerns expressed by several players' agents, Heat Managing Partner Lewis Schaffel said Friday he does not anticipate the NBA locking out players from the Oct. 7 start of training camp. The NBA has been without a working agreement with its players since the end of last season. The lockout strategy was mentioned earlier this month in the NHL, which also lacks a working agreement. "I don't think there is any sentiment toward that," said Schaffel, who added that he would vote against a lockout.

Coach Pat Riley said Saturday while his team's projected salary-cap space for this summer's free-agency period is not overwhelming, it is in the range he anticipated. A liberal accounting currently leaves the Heat with about $7 million in cap space for next summer, less than the maximum contracts top-tier free agents could seek. In order to have even that much flexibility, it now appears the team, within the next month, will release veteran forward LaPhonso Ellis. Ellis is approaching an appearance incentive clause that otherwise would place him on the salary cap next season for $3.4 million, and trim the Heat spending space to a relatively inconsequential $3.6 million.

The NBA's free-agent list is down to table scraps, a final few foraging for any sliver of remaining salary-cap space. For the most part, the game is done, the rosters revamped. With less than a month until the Oct. 3 start of training camps, a view on the winners and losers of Free Agency '97. The Winners Chicago: You re-sign Michael Jordan, you're an automatic winner. Case closed. Phoenix: Has a team over the salary cap ever gotten so much bang for its buck? For $1.6 million, the Suns this offseason managed to add Clifford Robinson and George McCloud and retain Rex Chapman.

No sooner did NBA Commissioner David Stern announce a higher-than-expected salary cap for next season then Dwyane Wade heard chatter about the Miami Heat being in the driver's seat for this summer's free agency. "Being in the driver's seat," the seventh-year guard said, "that's a good feeling." Perhaps not as good a feeling as winning a playoff series opener, but the Heat does find itself in a better place now that Stern predicted the 2010-11 cap to fall at around $56.1 million.

The NFL is on the eve of unleashing a new year and it begins by setting the budget for every NFL team, which is $120.6 million. That's a $225,000 increase per team from 2011. However, each team can borrow $5 million from future funds within a two year period to increase their spending limit. BUT, they can only take $3 million the first season, and $2 million the next. The Miami Dolphins used the $3 million allowance in 2011, and will likely use the remaining $2 million this year.

By 5 p.m. Sunday, all the pieces had fallen into place for Part A of the Miami Heat's offseason overhaul, with the formal announcement of Chris Bosh's opt-out. Now comes Part B of the process, which will reshape a roster beaten down by four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and this month's collapse against the San Antonio Spurs that denied the Heat a third consecutive championship. Prior to this rapid-fire round of opt-outs by the Heat's Big Three, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Bosh were positioned to account for just over $61 million of the Heat's 2014-15 payroll.

The Florida Panthers have placed veteran defenseman and their captain Ed Jovanovski on unconditional waivers Sunday with the purpose of buying out the final year of his contract if he's not claimed by noon on Monday. Jovanovski, a fan favorite ever since Florida selected him with the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1994, has played his last game as a Panther, and it's quite possible that the five-time All-Star's sterling 19-year NHL career is over as well. Jovanovski, who turned 38 three days ago, beat the odds by coming back after resurfacing hip surgery, a relatively new procedure that's considered one step below a complete hip replacement and that no other professional athlete is believed to have come back from.

Amid widespread conjecture about the future of Carmelo Anthony and the possibility of the New York Knicks forward winding up as a teammate of LeBron James, an Eastern Conference executive told the Sun Sentinel that he would not be surprised to see Anthony leave New York. The executive said he was uncertain about Anthony's interest in remaining in what could be a rebuilding process in New York under the new regime headed by Phil Jackson, with neophyte coach Derek Fisher this week added to the mix. Anthony has the right to become a free agent this summer, or could remain with the Knicks for another season before his contract expires.

There are many reasons the Dolphins drafted wide receiver Jarvis Landry in the second round two weeks ago. Landry displayed reason No. 1 on Friday during rookie mini-camp. Showing off his route-running ability, Landry ran a crisp fade route to the left sideline. After shaking free of cornerback Walt Aikens, the fourth-round pick from Liberty, Landry went up high to snatch the pass, showing off his sure hands. Then he cut back to the inside against safety Jacques Washington, gaining yards after the catch on what would have been about a 20-yard gain.

1. Knowshon Moreno visited the Dolphins on Friday and left without a contract. The market for running backs isn't much of one, as the top ones in free agency got around $3.5 million a year that Donald Brown got in San Diego (three years, $10.5 million) or Ben Tate in Cleveland (two years, $7 million). Even guards, who once played the dime-a-dozen position, were getting far more. But to say one running back is as good as the next means you haven't looked at the Dolphins backfield.

The Panthers may be holding out their hand for financial assistance from Broward County , but on Friday new owner Vinnie Viola gave General Manager Dale Tallon carte blanche to spend the maximum amount allowed within the mandated salary cap to acquire elite free agents. Viola, co-owner Douglas Cifu and Tallon held their midseason budget meeting Friday, and the message was clear. "This team's been bleeding money for a long time, but I've been told we're going to be a cap team and want to try to break even.

Understanding the NFL's salary cap isn't easy, which is why every team has a capologist to crunch the numbers. However, being able to understand your budget is important when it comes to knowing what economic lane you or your favorite NFL team fits in. Some of us are ballers, and some of us are bargain shoppers. The same applies for NFL clubs heading into 2012 free agency. The Miami Dolphins are stuck somewhere in-between. Here's February's look at where every NFL team stands from an NFL salary cap standpoint headed into the free agent signing period, which begins on March 13 for players who aren't cut before then.

David Stern called the final NBA Finals he will preside over as commissioner probably the most anticipated in 30 years. Stern, who will pass the reins to Adam Silver next Feb. 1, spoke in glowing terms about the marquee matchup between the Heat and Spurs before Game 1 Thursday night. He also took delight in pointing out that the Heat's victory over Indiana in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals was the highest-rated NBA game ever on TNT. Nonetheless, the last collective bargaining agreement Stern helped shape will make it difficult to assemble and maintain star-studded teams such as the current Heat.

When it comes to contracts and team building in the NBA, you have to start from the premise that you can't have it both ways. That doesn't mean that it's fair, just or equitable. It's not, particularly when considering that the very foundation of the league is built on the iconic value of such a limited number of players. But it's the platform agreed upon through collective bargaining. Which brings us to what Kobe Bryant got this past week from the Los Angeles Lakers, what he said about what he got from the Lakers, and how the process previously has and will again impact the Miami Heat.